The Rivals
by Rider3
Summary: On a punishment-recuitment mission, James finds three extraordinary sisters. CHERUB think they have found three great new agents, however all is not what it seems. Ellie, Zoe and Alexis are hiding something huge...and someone might be onto them
1. Prologue

A sharp voice. "Well?"

"I've passed the medical. That means I'm definitely going, doesn't it?"

"I suppose so... if you are sure you're ready for this mission so soon after you've left the hospital. This will be a very demanding mission as you know, and will require you to be in the best physycal and mental shape you've been in for a while"

"I am ready. This mission can't go ahead without me, you told me that yourself. And if i'm the only one with the experience to lead this mission, well then, i'll be damned before I bail on you"

A low sigh.... "Alright. Hand these final instruction sheets to the others. You leave on Wednesday morning. Meet in my office at 8.30am sharp"


	2. Rave

Chapter 1

"What does a blonde put behind her ears to make herself look more attractive?"

"I don't know"

"Her ankles!"

James Adams laughed as he drained the last dregs of beer from his mug. His sister Lauren Adams was not nearly as amused, and she jabbed one finger angrily under Shakeel's nose.

"One more joke from you and I'll be dragging you out of this room by your broken ankles!"

Shakeel smirked, twirling his empty beer mug in his hand.

"Oooh, I'm so scared now. Blondie's gonna attack!" But he didn't try any more jokes until Lauren was safely out of earshot.

It was late Sunday evening on campus, and Bruce's sixteenth birthday party was in full swing. Kids ran around chucking popcorn over each other and getting drunk on the seventy cans of beer smuggled onto campus a few days earlier. A stack of opened birthday presents lay discarded on Bruce's bed. James was sprawled across the sofa, with Bruce, Shakeel, Callum and Connor lying on the floor. After four beers, he was a little drunk, and was laughing at Shakeel's lame jokes as though they were the funniest thing he'd ever heard.

"Girls" he laughed, as Lauren stormed out of the room to find her best friend Bethany. "Can't take a joke!"

Shakeel cleared his throat in a grand manner, before saying "What do you call a blonde that's dyed her hair brunette?"

Nearby Cherubs groaned loudly...

By 2.00am, the party had turned into a drunken rave. Empty cans and crisp packets littered the corridor floor, and some younger kids had been woken up by the screaming and by James fiddling with the stereo, blasting the music as loud as it would go. Out of nowhere, a rather large chunk of soaking wet bogroll hit him in the back of the head. He turned around to see Bethany Parker running away from him, followed by Lauren.

"Oi! Get back here!" he slurred. He lobbed the soaking wad back at her, but his aim was hopeless, and instead of going in Bethanys direction, the paper flew towards the doorway. Unfortunately Meryl Spencer was charging in through that doorway. The dripping, revolting smelling ball thwacked her right between the eyes. Stunned, Meryl stared first at the paper, then at James.

His heart sank. He was totally in the shit.


	3. Punishment

Chapter 2

At 9.00 the next morning James sat down on the chairs outside Zara Asker's office. Despite having taken several Paracetamol

tablets his head was pounding. He had little memory of what had happened the evening before. What he did remember was Meryl

screaming at everyone to go to bed, then screaming at him for another half hour after that. He had been told to see the chairwoman the

next morning, and he was dreading his punishment. He knew that as far as Zara would be concerned, he had assaulted a member of

staff. Meryl even had a bruise on her forehead to prove it. It was only a small consolation that Bethany and Lauren had been

apprehended as well, and were sitting alongside him, nervously twiddling their thumbs.

Ten minutes later, Zara called Bethany and Lauren into her office. She did not look happy. Bethany attempted her best remorseful

face, which made James want to laugh. Zara closed the door with a snap. James stared at the clock on the wall as it ticked slowly

towards 9.15, then 9.20. He said a silent prayer, hoping Zara would let him off lightly, but one look at Lauren and Bethany's

faces as they came out of the office told him he wouldn't be.

Zara folded her arms and stared James down as he slowly got up and walked towards her, feeling like a condemned man taking his

final walk to the execution chamber. Her eyes followed him to the chair behind her desk. She sat down opposite him.

"Well?" she shouted suddenly, causing James to jump in the chair, "Would you care to explain to me why Meryl Spencer's forehead

appears to be purple this morning?"

"It was an accident" James mumbled

"An accident! Don't make me laugh! She tells me you threw that paper straight at her head. What in God's name possessed you to do

that?"

"I...I wasn't aiming at Meryl, please believe that. I just..I mean...well my aim wasn't very good"

"Oh, and why was that?"

"Um..."

"You were completely smashed, were you not?"

"Well..."

"Well what? I assume you know campus policy on drinking? And perhaps you'd like to explain why you thought playing that Godawful

rock music at full volume was a good idea as well."

James stared miserably at his combat trousers. Zara's shouting was drilling into his brain, making his hangover ten times worse.

He didn't have an excuse. None of friends had got anywhere near as drunk as he had, and the staff would only turn a blind eye to

so much drinking and bad behavior before you got hauled up on it.

Zara continued, "In fact, your behavior of as of late has been appaling! Why? Don't you know how lucky you are? I'm quite close to

suspending you from missions, in fact."

James froze. He hadn't imagined it was this serious. Zara smiled

"Actually I was going to suspend you this morning but then I thought I had a better idea. Instead of suspending you, I'll send you

on a couple of choice missions instead." She handed James some paper over the desk. He looked and saw it was the standard

recruitment mission briefing given to all agents spending six weeks in some grotty kids home attempting to recruit new agents.

"If this mission goes well, and if you demonstrate exemplary behavior for several months after your return to campus, then you can

consider yourself forgiven. However, you must write a properly considered and thoughtful apology letter to Meryl as soon as

possible and deliver it to her in person. Understand?"

James nodded

"And i've told Meryl that she can also punish you any way she sees fit on top of this punishment"

James silently groaned.

By the time he got to lunch, he was feeling thoroughly miserable. Meryl had given him 100 punishment laps to run before he left on

Saturday. Lauren and Bethany had sniggered behind their hands all through their spanish class, and they had told everyone else

what had happened as well. At least they had both recieved 80 punishment laps of their own. And nowadays he didn't even have a

girlfriend to cheer him up. He had tried and failed at getting back together with Kerry in Las Vegas, and it seemed no else on

campus fancied him at all.

"Look who's coming" sniggered Bethany to all James's mates. "I do believe.."

"One more word, Bethany" he snarled.

She shrieked with laughter. James, seeing red, squared up to her, but just then several mission controllers entered the room.

James sat down, fuming.

Bruce sauntered over, and sat opposite James

"So" he smirked "Only been back from Vegas four weeks and already wonder boy has landed himself another mission! Where are you going

again?"

Everyone nearby stared and sniggered at him. It was going to be a very long day.


	4. Home sweet Children's Home

Home, sweet Children's Home

The Nevada Group Home sat in the centre of Birmingham, a large grey concrete building built some twenty years earlier. Graffiti covered every last inch of concrete that was not stained with vomit, urine and other unspeakable things. The reception was half trashed, with chewing gum pictures adorning the walls, along with bits of ripped up carpet that had been glued there with God knows what.

James slowly inched his way towards his new bedroom. Most of the kids were either at school or bunking off in the shopping centres. He did not think the next six weeks would go well. Good prospective CHERUB recruits needed to be very smart and in reasonable shape if they are already eleven or twelve, the maximum age for new recruits. The best age to recruit a new CHERUB is around eight, but most of the children who fit the bill live in foster homes, rather than group homes, meaning that James was very unlikely to find any recruits in his six weeks stay.

He sat on the edge of his bed, unsure what to do. He was starting at school the next day, and was not looking forward to it in the slightest. Meanwhile, there were no kids around and he had nothing to do apart from unpacking, which was about as interesting to him as watching paint dry.

He figured he would go shopping and buy himself a new psp game to amuse himself. He had a little money given to him for the purposes of the mission, and frankly anywhere was better to hang out than the Home, which was dark and smelled vaguely of piss.

Two hours later, he was stuffed with a double cheeseburger, large fries and a _diet_ coke from McDonald's, had a new motorbike racing game in his backpack and was lounging around on a bench by the food court of a busy shopping centre. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed two tall thugs with their skinny, ugly girlfriends in tow, eyeing him up from the other end of the court. He felt worried. At this time, the court was pretty empty, and it occurred to him that he probably should not have put on his new expensive shirt that morning.

The thugs sauntered over to James, the tacky plastic bling around their necks making a clacking noise as they went.

"Money" sneered thug number one, shaking his fist in James face. James was on his feet before the thug had time to blink. He slammed his trainer into the thug's crotch, and followed it up with a savage kick to the ribs. Thug number two yelled in shock and went to throw his meaty arms around James chest. James slammed his palm into the thug's nose and watched as he stumbled back, blood spraying from his face. The two uglies were now making a hasty retreat away from their boyfriends. Thug number one was picking himself up off the floor, groaning. James kicked him in the head for good measure, then turned and ran as fast as he could go. Some security men were running up an escalator ahead of him, so evidently one of the spotty teenagers behind the fast food counters had called them. He turned back into a shop with another exit onto the street, and ran the rest of the way back to Nevada House.

Back in his room, he pulled out his phone, and texted Kyle, before setting up his psp, and he spent the rest of the afternoon jabbing buttons on the controller.

In the dining room, staff were serving up stodgy macaroni cheese. He sat on his own at the back of the room, and was chomping the stodge down with gusto when he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, both thug one and thug two heading up the main stairs. He groaned to himself, unable to believe his rotten luck. It was going to take a miracle to keep out of their way until the end of the mission.


	5. Fight

By the fifth morning at Nevada house, James was nearly suicidal. He spent most of his time trying to avoid thugs one and two (called Devin and Mike), pretty sure he wouldn't manage to overpower them a second time, especially without any element of surprise. School was a doss, and his friend's texts were mostly jokes at his expense. It was Wednesday, and he decided to sleep in.

By 11am, he had dragged himself out of bed. He was just loading his psp game for the twentieth time in five days, when a carer knocked on his door. James groaned and stomped to the door. He would now be kicked out to go to school, where he ran the risk of being attacked by not only Devin and Mike, but their entire gang as well.

After a ten minute lecture on the importance of school, James showered, changed and threw some books in his bag, with the carer waiting in the corridor outside. He had just reached the main entrance when another carer entered, followed by three girls all carrying suitcases. The first looked around twelve or thirteen and the second was around the same age, but the youngest was definitely under ten, small with a pixie face and very pale blonde hair. Her eyes caught James's as he walked by; they were deep blue, hard and calculating. James felt unsettled, but couldn't help glancing back as he walked onto the street. The girl was no longer looking at him.

His school was a fifteen minute walk away, but he couldn't be bothered with it, so instead he cut through an alleyway towards the shopping centre again. He wondered whether the young girl he had seen could possibly be a CHERUB candidate. She might have sent a chill down his spine, but she certainly didn't look stupid.

When he reached the shopping centre he pulled out his mobile and called Bruce. By now it was lunch time on campus, and he wished he was there more than anything. "Hey Bruce" he said miserably. "James!" laughed Bruce "enjoying yourself?"

"I've ever enjoyed anything less, with the exception of basic training" James moaned, "I've got two hard-asses and their gang after my blood and I have to spend the next five weeks keeping away from them, and now I've been thrown out and told to go to school. It's so unfair!"

Bruce laughed even harder. "Well, while you've been living it up down there, I've been offered a mission. Can't tell you where yet, but there'll be plenty of sun, beer and hot chicks!"

James saw red. He hung up on Bruce and launched a kick at the nearest bin. It made him feel better, even if he now had a rather painful foot.

Five hours later and freezing cold, James slumped on a sofa in the Home's recreation room. He had spent the afternoon walking the streets, and unable to face another dinner at the Home, had gone to McDonalds instead. The three girls were huddled in the corner whispering. Almost as soon as he looked over, they broke apart. The first smiled at him. "Hi" she said, "We saw you earlier, didn't we?"

"Yeah" replied James "You've just arrived right?"

"That's right. I'm Ellie; these are my little sisters, Zoe and Alex" The youngest girl was Alex. Zoe was also blonde, and fit. If she had been older, James definitely would have tried to get off with her.

"I'm James"

Just then, Mike spied James from the hallway. "Well look who it is" he smirked, "Me and Dev want a word with you. You owe us some money"

"I don't want trouble" said James, backing up and judging the space between him and Mike, as Devin charged into the room. All the kids nearby hurried away except the three sisters who had no exit route, as they were sitting behind James. Dev slammed the door to the room shut and squared up to James.

"Oh Great" sighed Alex, "I knew this place had a reputation as being a Zoo, I didn't realise how accurate that was until now"

Devin noticed the girls for the first time. "Watch your mouth Blondie" he snarled "Unless you want to be next" He pulled a knife from his waistband. James sucked his breath in, heart thumping. Mike laughed moronically and charged at James, trying to pin him. Luckily his body moved as slow as his brain did, and James spun to the side and kicked him hard in the stomach. Mike fell backwards onto the floor, but immediately tried to get back up again. At the same time, Devin lunged towards James brandishing the knife. James spun to face him and raised his fists, but felt Mike grab his legs and pull hard. As he fell down on top of Mike, Devin laughed and angled the blade towards James.

There was a thump and then a loud cracking sound. Ellie brought her leg down and settled back into a fighting stance. There had barely been any distance between her and Devin, but her kick had propelled him a clear twelve feet across the room and he lay motionless against the wall. Mike was so stunned he let go of James, who immediately struggled out of his grip and slammed his palm into Mike's face. James then jumped backwards, almost colliding into Ellie, who was now staring at Mike. "Get out" she hissed, "and stay out!"

Mike stumbled up, clutching a hand over his nose, and ran out of the room yelling. "What a loser" Alex snorted, "and by the way, I could have kicked him harder than that – you're going soft"

James stared at the sisters, more shocked than he had been in a long time.


	6. Absolutely Perfect

Alex snapped her fingers at James "Well don't just stand there gawping like an oversized goldfish, move! Unless you actually _want _to be here when the carers arrive"

"Come on, let's go to your room Zoe" said Ellie. She nodded her head at James "You should make yourself scarce, we'll see you tomorrow"

The three girls hurried off, leaving Devin whimpering on the floor, and James staring after them. He shook his head, still stunned, before hurrying up the stairs after them. When he got into his room, he threw off his clothes and took a shower. As he watched Mike's blood run off his hand, he replayed the scene over in his mind. Ellie's kick was no lucky shot – she was obviously a skilled martial artist. From what Alex had said afterwards, she was also similarly trained, and he assumed that if they were, then Zoe must be as well. He had to talk to them and find out where they had learnt it from and what their background was. As long as they had no close living family, and Zoe and Ellie were both twelve or under, they seemed like good potential CHERUBS.

He sank into bed feeling exhausted, even though it was only half six. He slept for a few hours, then woke up and texted Bruce and Lauren. After that, he could not relax at all, and it was long past midnight before he dozed off.

At breakfast the following morning, Devin was very obviously absent, and Mike was hunched over his food in the corner. James spied Ellie and Alex at a table, and walked over. "Mind if I sit here?" he asked.

"No it's fine" said Ellie. "Zoe should be down soon, but it takes her half an hour to do her hair on a good day, and this isn't one of them. Oh, and Devin's been taken to hospital. I think I might have broken a few ribs"

James shook his head. "Where did you learn to do that? My Dad was a martial arts instructor, so I know quite a few moves myself, and I've never seen anyone else who was halfway decent before!"

"How odd, our mother was as well!" said Ellie, "She taught us right from when we were little. She competed a lot and won more than she lost. Our Dad was apparently good as well, but not a patch on her"

"Apparently?" asked James

"Well, he walked out on us you see. Haven't heard from him in over eight years. But they met at a competition"

A carer told Alex to hurry up, as the minibus taking the younger kids to the local primary had arrived. She rolled her eyes and grabbed her bag. "See you later then. If I haven't murdered someone by then. I bloody hate school!"

Ellie laughed. As Alex walked off, she told James "Al is a bit of a troublemaker. She can't stand most of the other kids, and they can't stand her. She finds all the work too easy and then bunks off. At our last school, some idiots decided to pick on her, and several of them wound up with broken bones. She got expelled"

"And you?" asked James, "What year are you in anyway?"

"Year Eight, I'm twelve" She replied, "Zoe's ten months younger than me, so she's in the same year. To be honest I can't stand school either, nor can Zo. This new one won't be any better than the last couple. I don't think I can even be bothered to start it. Thank God we can all make our own way there instead of being driven to the gates"

"I haven't bothered going either to be honest. It's an absolute dump. That's a really small gap between you and your sister"

"Yeah, it's like having a twin, we get put in the same classes, share the same clothes and everything! I don't mind though…Oh look! Talk of the devil, and she shall appear. Morning Zo, or should I say afternoon?"

Zoe smiled sleepily as she headed to the counter to grab some cereal. Ellie shook her head. "This is early for her" she laughed, "You should see her on a Sunday"

"I know you're talking about me" yawned Zoe, "So what are we doing today anyhow? I don't really feel like school"

"I know, I was saying to James that I don't really feel like going. I think we should just go for a jog and then find some place to practise. You up for that?"

"Practise what?" asked James

"Our Karate and Judo and stuff" said Zoe, "Yeah I guess so, it beats school by a mile"

"Okay, sorted. Do you want to come or not" Ellie asked James, "You can if you want since you said you know some moves. But I warn you, we are pretty advanced, so you probably won't be able to fight either of us properly"

"Oh, I reckon I can" James said confidently. Ellie and Zoe might be good, but he doubted they'd be anywhere near as he good as he was. Years of CHERUB's advanced combat training almost daily meant he was in top shape, whereas they had to rely on a bit of running now and again to keep fit. And whilst they were obviously talented, he had been trained by the best.

"We'll see" said Ellie, obviously relishing the challenge.

An hour and a half later, they were finishing their jog. James was surprised at the level of fitness the girls had. They had maintained the kind of punishing pace he would have expected from older CEHRUBS for over an hour now, and all three of them were getting tired. They decided to stop at an empty play park which had flat areas of grass on it.

"Are you feeling more awake now Zoe?" asked Ellie, throwing down her small backpack. She began doing stretches.

"Just a little bit" laughed Zoe, copying her. "And you James?"

"I'm good" he replied, "but I'm surprised at how much stamina you have"

"Are you now? Well hopefully we'll have a few more surprises in store for you when we fight! Do you mind if Ellie and I fight first though?"

"Nah, go ahead" said James

"Excellent" smirked Zoe, a glimmer in her eyes, "You see, normally I can't get the better of her for the life of me, but recently she got injured. Sadly it seems she's going to be healed fully soon, but until then I'm going to take very opportunity to humiliate her!"

"Phffttt" snorted Ellie, "You can try all you like short-arse, but even when I'm injured I still somehow manage to defeat you!"

"Not last time"

"That was a fluke, nothing more"

Five minutes later and fully stretched, the girls faced each other. "Give us the signal, James" murmured Ellie, her eyes fixed on Zoe's

James held his arm in the air, counted to three in his head, and then threw it down. His eyes barely had time to register what happened after that. They moved so fast that he couldn't follow all of the punches and kicks. He realised he had completely underestimated them. They were definitely as good as he was, and probably as good as most CHERUB's, except maybe Bruce and Kerry. There was a thump as Ellie pulled off another powerful kick, sending Zoe sprawling.

"See" She gasped, "fluke!"

"I'm going to have a lovely bruise there tomorrow" groaned Zoe, picking herself up. "James can go next, I need a break"

"More like, you mean you can't face two embarrassments in a row" Ellie laughed. "You fancy a go James?"

James moved into position. He would never live down being defeated by a twelve year old girl who hadn't even been through basic training. Ellie kept her eyes fixed on him, but she had an almost playful smirk on her face.

"This is going to be good" smiled Zoe. She brought her arm sharply downwards. "Fight!"

Ellie sprang towards him, moving faster than he could have. He attempted to side step and bring a kick up towards her chin, but she threw her own leg into the path of his. He was knocked off balance, and she used the opportunity to grab him and throw him hard over her shoulder onto the ground. Winded, he felt her press her foot onto his head.

"Victory number two of the day to me!" Ellie grinned.

Half an hour later, they were all exhausted. James could not best Ellie and only defeated Zoe once, which was more luck on his part than actual skill, as she tripped on a dip in the ground. He was astounded, and more than a little put out at the ease with which they had seemed to beat him. Zoe suggested going to find some food, so they set off towards the nearest shopping area.

"How on Earth have you got so good?" exclaimed James, "You said your mum taught you, but you must have had some tuition more recently"

"We did go along to lessons when we lived in the last Home" said Zoe, "But our mum…well, she only died eighteen months ago. We have learnt nearly everything we know from her"

"So…I mean forgive me if this is too intrusive…but don't you have any other close family?"

"Not really, no. Our so called Dad vanished off the face of the Earth, our grandparents are dead, and mum didn't have any brother or sisters. All of the rest of our family live in Russia and Sweden or countries around there. Our mum was born in Sweden, our Grandparents moved over here. Actually, both Ellie and I speak fluent Swedish and near fluent Russian"

"Really?" gasped James. It was almost unbelievable. The girls seemed absolutely perfect. They were fantastic fighters, spoke other languages fluently, and seemed smart as well. He decided to call his mission controller as soon as he got back. With any luck, this mission would be finishing sooner than he had thought.


	7. Spies? Us?

It was Saturday evening, and most of the kids at Nevada House were sat in front of the big TV watching the Arsenal vs. Tottenham match. James had seemed rather agitated even before kick-off, which amused Ellie. She didn't enjoy football one bit, unlike Zoe who was an avid Spurs fan. She even wanted a season ticket for Christmas. Ellie had decided to stay upstairs in her room instead.

She climbed into bed, before reaching out and plucking a photo frame from the bed-side table. A woman with dark hair and eyes stared out at her. She brushed her finger down the side of the frame, studying her mum's face in detail. Rissa had been tall and slim, and very serious. She wasn't smiling in this picture, which was one of only a few Ellie had. Rissa had hated having her photo taken.

Ellie sighed, placed the photo back on the table and lay down.

...

She awoke to a very loud noise and shouting. It took her a moment to work out where she was. She blinked a few times, and snapped her lamp on.

"Scum of the Earth!" she heard James yell, followed by a door slamming. Seconds later Zoe burst into the room singing a very loud victory chant.

"Oh when the Spuuurs, go marching in..."

Ellie groaned loudly. "Get out! I don't care, I'm trying to sleep"

"James over there won't be sleeping as well as I will be tonight. 2:0 to the greatest team on the planet" She called loudly.

"I think I told you to GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"

...

When Ellie woke again, she felt rested. She stretched out, but as she did so she realised that she no longer had any pyjamas on. She froze, before throwing herself upwards.

She was in a large bedroom, alone. The room was painted white, and had a television, a table with a laptop on it and a comfortable sofa. She was in a double bed and there were clothes laid out on the end of it. Camouflage trousers, boots, underwear and an orange T-shirt with a logo on it. She stayed frozen in the bed, examining every detail of the room carefully. Finally in the far corner, near the ceiling, she saw a very small camera mounted. It was easy to miss. She glared at it, clutching the duvet around her chest. She grabbed the clothes, and dived under the bedclothes to change.

She then got up and stood on the table to reach the camera. She grabbed it and spun it around in its stand so the lens faced into the wall instead of at her. She hoped Zoe and Alex were here as well.

She walked over to the closed balcony doors, and looked out over a vast expanse of sports courts and other buildings. Kids were walking between the buildings carrying armfuls of books and papers. Some were dressed for Karate classes; others were in the same basic clothes she was in, although with different colour T-Shirts.

She decided she might as well go and look for Zoe and Alex. She left her room, and looked left and right. There was no one else there. She cautiously knocked on the room door opposite her, but no one answered. She tried each door in turn; until outside one of them she heard the distinctive sound of Zoe snoring.

…

Zoe woke up to find Ellie shaking her.

"Wake up, Sleepy"

Zoe yawned before looking around. She widened her eyes in surprise.

"There was a camera watching you as well" said Ellie, "but I don't know if there's any other surveillance here, so we'd better be careful. I haven't found Alex yet"

While Zoe dressed, Ellie tried the remaining doors in the corridor, but Alex wasn't in any of them. Just as she turned to go back to Zoe's room, a girl ran into the corridor. She was just a little shorter than Ellie, stocky with blonde hair and a black T-Shirt. Ellie smiled, relieved to see someone.

"Excuse me" she began, but the girl took one look at her and said "Can't talk to orange"

Ellie stared after her. She went back to Zoe's room to tell her what had happened.

"How strange!" Zoe said, "I wonder what the T-Shirt colours actually mean"

"Do you think we should wait for someone, or go and look around ourselves?"

"Let's go look, there's nothing stopping us"

They walked along until they found a lift, which opened to reveal a tall woman in a white T-Shirt. "Excuse me" Zoe started, but again the woman just said "Can't talk to Orange"

"Why won't the adults talk to us?" asked Zoe, bemused.

"I don't know….it's these orange T-Shirts. Maybe before we go down, we should find some new ones"

"I don't know, these were put out for us especially"

"I know, but I don't like being ignored. Take the initiative Zoe, if they won't speak to us like this, we'll have to find another way to get them talking"

They had a look inside the nearest room. Definitely a teenage girl's room. They found grey T-Shirts hanging in her wardrobe, and took two. "We'll bring them back later" Ellie said. "It's not stealing if we bring them back"

Having obtained new clothes, they took the lift downstairs. They arrived in a large central area, which was crammed full of kids, all heading towards a large set of doors. Ellie and Zoe were swept up in the crowd, and found themselves in a large dining room. The kids queued up to get snacks from the canteen.

"I am hungry now I think about it" Zoe exclaimed, her eyes lighting up the sight of the croissants, bacon rolls, fruit and sandwiches stacked in front of them. They both stood in line and grabbed some food. Zoe bit into her roll and sighed happily. "I feel better now. This can't be a bad place if they have food like this!"

Ellie laughed. "I guess we should go have a look around now"

As they reached the dining room doors again, a woman walked through them. She had dark hair, and a friendly expression. Around them, the rest of the kids fell quiet

"Ellie, Zoe" she smiled, "follow me please"

The two girls followed the woman to a large office, the other kids staring curiously after them. The woman sat down on the sofa, and beckoned Ellie and Zoe to join her

"My name is Zara, I run this place" She said, picking up two orange shirts from the table. "You need to wear these whilst you're on campus"

"We're sorry, but nobody would talk to us when we were wearing those, so we found some new shirts" said Zoe meekly. To her relief, Zara laughed

"Yes, I was watching you on CCTV. So, now you're here, what do you think?"

"Um… is our sister here? Alexandra?"

"Yes, she is, but she woke up a long time before either of you. You'll be able to join her soon. How are you feeling?"

"Oh, the usual way I do when I wake up somewhere I've never been before with no memory of how I got there" said Ellie, narrowing her eyes, "What gives?"

"We had to give you a mild sedative so that you wouldn't know where you were being taken" Zara said, "don't worry, there aren't any nasty side effects, and you will be leaving before the end of the day back to Nevada house"

"We're going back?" asked Zoe

"Yes, you will. Today you will learn about what CHERUB is, and get the tour. If you would like to join us, you'll be taking some tests today as well. Then you will leave"

"Okay" smiled Zoe, "So, what is CHERUB then?"

"The kids here are many things" Zara said, "like you, they are physically fit, excellent martial artists and intelligent. But the one thing they all have in common is that they are spies, working for the British government"

"Spies? You must be kidding" exclaimed Zoe

"Something about the drugs and the secrecy tells me otherwise" said Ellie, who was still studying Zara carefully. Zara stared her in the eyes straight back, still smiling

"Yes Zoe, the kids here are spies. What do you think of that?"

"Wow! It sounds pretty exciting. And you're asking us to be spies as well? What exactly do kiddie spies do anyway?"

Zara laughed. "It certainly is exciting. It's also very challenging. We only take on the best. We think you two and your sister have the potential to be agents, so we've brought you here to see what you think of the idea."

"Is it dangerous?" asked Zoe

"There are some risks yes, but our agents are highly trained to deal with them, and it's rare for anything serious to happen on a mission. As for what child spies do, well, they can be very useful."

"Yeah, adults don't suspect cute little eight year olds" Ellie cut in

"That's the basic principle, yes. Although the minimum age to be an agent here is ten. Kids under ten wear the red T-Shirt and live in the junior block. Over ten's take a one hundred day basic training course, after which they become qualified agents and go on missions. Adult criminals suspect other adults, but not their own children's friends from school. They won't let any unknown adult cross their doorstep, but they will host sleepovers for the kids. Those kids are then in a perfect position to bug the house with listening devices and so on."

"Do we get paid then" demanded Ellie, "Or is this a free labour service for the government?"

"CHERUB agents are paid the same as junior intelligence officers in MI5 are"

Ellie nodded. "Sounds like a fair enough deal to me. This seems much nicer than Nevada house anyway. So what tests do we have to take then?"

"There are five tests, which will take most of the rest of the day, if you want to take them. Your little sister has already started them. She had reservation like you Ellie, and she wanted to talk to you. But she decided to take the tests anyway. You aren't committing yourself by taking them, you have a free choice after receiving your results. What do you think?"

"I'd like to take the tests Ellie" Zoe said

"No harm in taking them I guess, as long as us three can all talk together afterwards" Ellie agreed.

"All right then" Zara smiled, "Follow me"


	8. Welcome Aboard

_After a long break (A-Levels and University got in the way), I'm back and updating again. This story would not leave me alone! I'm sorry I didn't do it quicker. Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, and especially to those who made it a favourite :)_

* * *

James knocked on Zara's office door. It was 6 o'clock in the evening, and Zara had asked him down while she finished reviewing the Barker sisters' test scores. He was feeling pretty pleased with himself. Most recruitment missions proved unsuccessful and if he had found three new recruits in one, he was sure Zara would have half forgiven him already. The prospect of going back to Nevada house with the girls for a final few days was not a happy one, but at least this mission had been wrapped up much quicker than the six weeks he had been anticipating.

When he entered her office, he saw that Bruce was also there, nursing a bandaged hand.

"Take a seat James" said Zara, smiling. "I've just finished going through the tests, and I'm pleased to say that you appear to have found us three new recruits, if they are willing to join".

James grinned. "Excellent" he said, "So this recruitment mission is about over then?"

Zara laughed. "Oh yes, although you seem to be good at finding us new recruits, so if you'd like a second one…"

"No thanks!" James laughed back. He turned to Bruce. "What happened to your hand then?"

"Ellie Barker did" Zara cut in. "I did tell Bruce here that all three girls have had extensive martial arts training already, but he seemed to be under the impression that it was all a bit of a joke. He started the first fight treating Ellie as if she was a standard recruit…and he paid the price! Ellie has the distinction of being the first orange shirt to win a fight against one of our CHERUB agents"

"Yeah well, she didn't manage that again" huffed Bruce, who was deeply embarrassed at being beaten. "She took me by surprise, but I'm still much better than her"

James grinned, "Oh dear Brucie, beaten by a twelve year old". He did not mention to Bruce that Ellie had also defeated him – every time they fought.

"Shut up James" snarled Bruce

"Calm down" said Zara sharply. "If we could turn our attention back to the test scores please. All three girls are in very good physical shape, although Ellie sustained a leg injury a while ago and is still working her way back up to full fitness". She showed James and Bruce the score sheet from the fitness testing. The sheet was marked with green, amber and red colour marks, grading the girls' fitness and future fitness potential. To his surprise, James noted that Zoe did not have one single red mark, and Ellie and Alex barely had any. Although all three girls had plenty of orange marks as well as green, this was very unusual.

Zara continued "As I'm sure you've gathered, this is pretty impressive. Unfortunately both older girls are tall for their ages, especially Ellie, and they both look older than they are as well. If she doesn't stop growing we may find that by the time she is sixteen or so, she will no longer pass for an under eighteen, which is very unfortunate. However, their fitness and foreign language skills, especially in Russian, more than make up for this, as they will be able to start very useful missions immediately following basic training."

Zara shuffled the papers on her desk, and picked out some more results. "All three are intelligent and passed the written tests. None will be top students here but they shouldn't struggle to keep up with the basics, which is what matters. However, they all did extremely well on the height obstacle course. None showed any fear; indeed they all seemed quite at home, especially Alex. It turns out that she's quite the gymnast in fact. Extremely flexible. Finally, they did the chicken test. Ellie refused, which I expected, as she's vegetarian and doesn't wear products made from dead animals. She scored very highly as she had good moral character, a convincing argument and didn't waver, even when I tried to bully her into it. Alexandra did the opposite, killed the chicken immediately and also scored very highly. Zoe did not perform very well, although she did kill the chicken in the end. All three easily passed the swimming test as well. Overall, they performed very well, and I'm glad to be able to offer them all places here."

"Bruce, you may leave now. James, if you want, you can stay. I'm going to call them in and give them the good news. You can reveal your real identity to them!"

"Yeah, sure" said James, as Bruce left the office.

"Okay, wait here a minute then", said Zara as she left behind Bruce.

James cast his mind back to when Mac had offered him his place. His life had been in the toilet, and CHERUB was the best opportunity he had ever been given. He couldn't imagine what his life would be like now if not for CHERUB. Probably he's be in some young offenders institution somewhere, with no real future ahead of him. Lauren would be stuck in a Home somewhere.

Zara returned with Ellie, Zoe and Alex.

"Hey" gasped Zoe, "James! They brought you here as well!"

"No Zoe…he's already an agent aren't you?" said Ellie, "you have a black T-shirt"

"Oh yeah"

"Please sit down" smiled Zara. "Yes, James is one of our black shirt agents, recruited just like you were. So…how do you think the tests went?"

"Okay, I guess" said Zoe, "But I don't think the maths and English bit went well. I'm pretty hopeless at it all to be honest!"

"Actually, you performed fine" replied Zara, "Not as well as many of the agents here, and if you join you will find that many people are smarter than you. However, you scored well enough to pass"

As Zara explained the tests to them, James recalled his own. He had a vivid memory of being splattered with warm chicken blood, and standing cold and scared above a massive drop on the height obstacle.

"So" Zara concluded, "I am very pleased to be able to offer you all places at CHERUB. I think you all talked about it some more at lunch together?"

"Yes we did", said Ellie. James noted that she usually spoke for the other two. "We decided that we should stay together whatever happens. And we all like the idea of joining CHERUB. So as long as you're offering all of us a place together…"

"I am" smiled Zara, "We don't like to separate siblings unless it's completely necessary"

"Then we'll join" Ellie smiled back

"Excellent" said Zara. She reached beneath her desk and pulled out three brand new CHERUB T-shirts, one red and two pale blue. She handed them across to the girls. "Zoe and Ellie, the next basic training course starts in two and a half weeks' time. Alex, you will be eligible to train in just under nine months' time, when you turn ten, so expect to start training within about a year. James, would you kindly show them around a bit more, then I'm afraid you all need to return to Nevada House for a few days, while we finalise all the paperwork and invent excuses for you all to leave"

They all left together

"Congratulations" James told them, "And welcome aboard. I'm sure you'll love it here"


	9. Getting Started

**A few days later**

The four CHERUB agents left Nevada House for the final time at 7 o'clock in the morning, arriving at campus before lunch. James showed the girls to Meryl Spencer's office. She would be Ellie and Zoe's handler at CHERUB, and also Alex's when she qualified as an active agent.

Meryl surveyed the three of them as they walked in, smiling a she gestured them to sit down. "Lovely to meet you all" she said, "Ellie and Zoe, I'm going to be your handler while you are at CHERUB. That basically means I'm responsible for keeping you in check – getting your timetable together, dishing out punishments, making sure you keep up with your schoolwork and so on. Alex, while you live in the junior block, you'll be looked after by the carers there, but I need to speak to all together today"

Ellie smiled inwardly as she saw the sudden flash of anger in Al's eyes when Meryl mentioned the junior block and 'carers'.

Meryl pulled some forms out. "Right, I need your new names now" she said.

James had explained names to them the day before, and they had spent hours and hours trying to choose a new surname. Mainly because nothing had satisfied Alex. Too boring, too stupid, too babyish, too long, she complained as Ellie and Zoe ran through lists of possible English, Russian and Swedish surnames. Finally, Ellie had ordered her to put up and shut up with whatever she and Zoe chose. "Okay, so Black, Vitsin, Fletcher or Andersson?" she finally put to Zoe. After a few minutes more muttering, they made a decision. Alex protested, to no avail. In fact, she narrowly avoided being punched in the face by an extremely tired and irritated Ellie.

"We'll be called Fletcher" said Ellie

"Okay, and do you want new first or middle names" asked Meryl, "or are you happy with that?"

"Me" said Alex, "I hate being called Alexandra or Alex. I'd like Alexis about a billion times more"

"Right" said Meryl, writing it down, "So that's Eleanor Annalisa Fletcher, Zoe Rose Fletcher and Alexis Marissa Fletcher then?"

"Yes" smiled Ellie

"Excellent. Next on the list, your family. We searched for, but were unable to locate your father. As you know, your mother left you some possessions and a little money, and if you are happy, CHERUB can store those safely for you until you leave"

"Okay"

Meryl showed Alexis over to the junior block, then dropped Zoe and Ellie off in the main building. James had already helped them find new rooms, which were right across from each other. He left them in Ellie's room, and headed off to urgently rush through some overdue religion homework over lunch, silently cursing his teacher.

Zoe perched on Ellie's bed, gazing around. "Well" she said, "It isn't quite as nice as my room back home, that's for sure".

"Yeah. But it's a whole ton better than at _The _Home!"

Zoe laughed. "God, we're well shot of that dump! But we won't in these rooms for long either. I somehow don't think basic training will be as comfortable as this".

Ellie smiled back, "Well, don't get too comfortable, we've got plenty to be getting on with before training starts". She reached down and pulled out a Nintendo DS from her bag. "Lock the door, Zo", she instructed, before reaching down into a DS carry case, fumbling for a few seconds with a pocket in it, and bringing out an unlabelled cartridge. She inspected it for a very small pen marking she had made in a corner, then inserted it into the DS and slid the power on button. Zoe peered over her shoulder as the screen loaded and Ellie typed from memory a complicated password. A dull grey screen appeared, with various boxes around it. Ellie saw that nothing was coloured or flashing and smiled. She powered off, and changed cartridge. Again, she accessed the controls through a password. This time, a secure communications system loaded, complete with chat facilities and email. Ellie searched under 'A' and pulled up a contact, before typing a quick message

'_Fully moved in. Getting started. Tell all of 1, 3C&H, to set up. Basic Training definitely starts 2 weeks tomorrow'_

She then messaged several more people together

'_Hey Guys, all moved in, not anything like home, missing u all. Cal, don't u and Harry dare steal my work. I will kill u both! Al very fed up at being put in 'junior block' with 'Carers'…haha :D Tease her 4 me when messaging her. Chat u on here soon, check after 9 at night. Told A, get ready 2 set up btw. E xx'_

Satisfied, she packed the DS away, carefully placing the cartridges back in the hidden pocket. She then turned to finish unpacking. Neither of them had brought much with them. She gave Rissa's photo pride of place on the desk. Ellie's mother had not been a sentimental woman, and had had few possessions which weren't purely functional. A few photographs, her favourite gi, a full jewellery box and some letters she had written were the only things Ellie had left of her. But she hadn't brought most of that to Campus. She did not like to leave them, but who knew when or how she would leave Campus, and therefore whether she would lose them if they were here.

She and Zoe then headed to the junior block to meet Alexis. None of them had lessons yet; the older two would in fact not start until basic training was completed. Ellie was impressed by the outdoor facilities and the vast areas of green. Nothing like home. Not that she preferred this, oh no, but it would be nice to have this on her doorstep as well.

A carer directed them to Alexis's room. As they stepped inside, Alexis turned towards them, and one look at her disgusted expression told them everything. Zoe's lip quivered with suppressed giggles as she glanced around. The room was a shared one, and whoever Al's roommate was, she was obviously obsessed with all things pink and magical. Her bed had dolphin and horse stickers on it, and she had Barbie pictures on the walls, which were painted a pale pink colour. Every possession she had out was pink, from her pink Barbie convertible car, to her Bratz doll in a pink and white fluffy coat, to her pink bedside glow lamp and pink fairy bed sheets.

"Look!" Alexis cried, gesturing around her, "bloody Hell!"

Ellie made the mistake of looking at Zoe. The moment they made eye contact they both dissolved laughing.

Alexis had always hated pink. On principle, she disliked other people who liked pink. At nine years old, she wore mostly black, often complete with skull necklaces and rings. She listened to rock music. Back home, she had a small collection of knives with decorated handles, carefully hidden from the adults. She channelled an 'I don't give a shit about you' 17 year old vibe, accompanied by a sadistic streak she sometimes delighted in showing off. She had started young as well. When she was 5, Ellie had caught her playing at 'Barbie prison' – This had involved taking the few dolls people had thought would be lovely presents for her, then hacking their hair off, dipping them in freezing water and hanging them with a handmade doll size noose. When she was 6, she had demanded that her bedroom walls should be repainted black. This announcement had been met with disbelief, and Ellie privately decided that her little sister was distinctly odd. In the last three years, Alexis had only confirmed this.

Zoe hit the floor, banging her hand against the carpet. "Oh God, this is the funniest thing ever!" she shrieked. Ellie felt a tear trickle out the corner of her eye as she howled with laughter. Alexis was not amused.

"It's NOT funny!" she yelled.

The shouting brought the nearest carer running. "What is going on here?" she demanded, "Calm down right now. If this happens every time you see your sisters, you won't be seeing them up here any longer"

"Why am I sharing with some Barbie obsessed moron?" whined Alexis

"I beg your pardon?"

"I don't want to live in Barbie's magical kingdom"

"Don't you dare be so rude about your roommate! Ffion is a lovely girl. How would you like it if I stood here insulting your taste in toys and decorations?"

Alexis glowered at her

"And don't you dare look at me like that either! I know it's your first day, but we expect high standards of behaviour here young lady. If this happens again, I will punish you. Understand? And could you two leave now please". She gestured Ellie and Zoe to the door.

Ellie and Zoe giggled all the way back to the dining room. "Oh God, her face" cried Zoe.

"I know. I really pity this poor Ffion. Alexis is pretty immature as well as mean, fancy sticking her in with a girl like that….this is not going to end well"

"Yeah…wait till I tell Callum and Harry!"

They dissolved into a fit of giggles again

….

**One day later - Mission Control, 3.00PM**

James knocked on the office door of his least favourite mission controller, more than a bit excited. Ewart Asker had left a message on his answerphone just over an hour before, urgently asking him to pop along for a quick chat. James was praying for a mission. He would be very lucky indeed, given his run in with Zara and her threat of mission suspension, but you never knew. Ewart hadn't sounded angry, which was always a good sign, and he hadn't done anything wrong in the last 24 hours.

Ewart called him in. He was sitting at his desk, and Lauren was already there.

"Hi James" said Ewart. "Take a seat and have a glance at this"

He handed James some papers. It wasn't an official mission briefing, but it looked like background notes relating to a mission.

"This one has been a possibility for a few months now" explained Ewart. "We're still very much in the planning stages, but if this goes ahead, I would be looking to you two as the senior agents for the mission, so I would like you to be involved from early on"

"Fantastic" said James, "What's it about"

Ewart handed a photograph over. The man in it looked to be in his early thirties. He had sleek oily black hair, black eyes and an olive complexion. He looked like a hard man and had a closed and stern look.

"His name is Damian Green" said Ewart, "And he's been illegally gathering top secret government and secret service information. We need to work out how he's doing it, and stop him. Luckily, he has children"

Ewart handed over more photographs. There were three girls, aged between 8 and 13. They all looked like their father, with dark eyes and hair and olive skin, although unlike him they were all very dainty and beautiful.

"The eldest is Lily Green, she's 13. Then there's Leia Green, she's 11, and the youngest, Isabelle, is 8. Their mother died a few years ago of breast cancer, and Damian has raised them alone ever since"

James immediately spotted an obvious problem

"Yes…but I'm already a few years older than the eldest. Lauren could make friends with Lily I guess, but what use am I?"

Ewart smiled. "Actually", he said, "this is shaping up to be a big mission, with two major roles. The first is to befriend the girls, and gain access to his house. He's very paranoid, barely lets any adults in, but his daughters have all their little friends round for sleepovers. The second role is perhaps even more important, and this is where you two come in. Green uses people to handle and steal documents, but his paranoia will play right into our hands. He uses teenagers to do it, and you two fit the bill."

Lauren nodded, "Who's going to befriend the daughters?" she asked.

"Luckily, James has just recruited them. The Fletcher sisters are just the right ages, in great shape, and they speak Swedish. The mother was a Swedish woman, Astrid Eriksson, and the girls are completely bilingual. Hopefully they should all be able to hit it off; they'll have so much in common. They're absolutely perfect. Lauren, you'll be the lead agent overall, as you can oversee both parts of the operation. You'll be in the year above Ellie Fletcher and Lily Green, and you can legitimately be friendly with Ellie. Join a school club with her or something. She can keep you updated."

Lauren nodded. She was extremely pleased with herself.

Half an hour later, they left Ewart's office, both with jobs to do. Mission preparation would take months more, and during that time the Fletcher sisters would complete basic training. The biggest potential setback was either Ellie or Zoe (or both) failing basic training, but that couldn't be helped.

They parted when they reached the entrance to the main building. James headed back to his room, and dumped papers by his computer. "Right" he muttered to himself, "Let's get started".


	10. Who would spy on them?

**Two weeks later**

James woke extremely early, and unable to get back to sleep, decided to go for a long morning run and workout before breakfast. He showered, dressed and stopped on the way out of the door to message Lauren:

"_Meet me in the mission control building at 1PM? We need to go over some of the mission preparation with Ewart"_

James and Lauren had spent time over the past two weeks helping Ewart with the mission research and preparation. It was important for both of the senior black shirt agents to take some role in the preparation of an important mission, and James had to admit it was quite interesting seeing missions work from the other side. There were a lot of long hours to put in doing sometimes insanely boring research – on Damian Green, on his late wife Astrid and on the three Green sisters. Topics ranged from the girls' schools and their hobbies and interests, to sightings of Damian in certain locations and gathering CCTV images and information on all the people he had been seen in public with over the last year or so.

James also had to admit to feeling annoyed that it was Lauren who would be the most senior agent on the mission, and not himself. Although given Lauren's likely role as the link between the Fletcher sisters and themselves, she was the obvious choice, it didn't change the fact that she was several years younger than him and nothing rankles quite so much as being officially outranked by your younger sibling. Lauren's superior attitude didn't help matters at all.

He reached the lift at 5.15 AM. On the floor below his, the lift stopped and he was joined by 3 people with the unmistakable filthy clothes worn by agents in basic training. Ellie, Zoe and boy James didn't know all stared at him curiously, wondering why anyone would choose to be up at this time if they had a choice. Zoe was clearly still half asleep, but Ellie was wide awake and oddly, seemed quite calm.

"What are you doing James?" she asked.

"Can't sleep" explained James, "and you're off to basic training, I see"

"Yeah" groaned Ellie

"Don't worry" James said, "I can't lie, it's hellish, but minus any freak accidents, you're a cert to pass in my opinion"

"Thanks James" smiled Ellie, "but I'm not too worried"

James raised his eyebrows. "You sound pretty confident for a trainee about to walk into misery camp"

Ellie smiled wider, "You weren't confident then?"

"I was panicking! I was over two hours late because one of the instructors stole my alarm clock!"

"Ouch!"

"I know! Large, he was the head instructor at the time, massive dickhead, made me stand on one leg with a bucket over my head as a punishment, kept smacking the bucket with a baton, then made everyone skip breakfast. I wasn't exactly flavour of the month with the other trainees"

At the main entrance, James and the three trainees split up. James jogged towards the athletics track reliving basic training in his head, whilst Ellie, Zoe and Lewis ran towards Hell.

**The Basic Training Compound, 5.30AM**

George Pike strode into the trainee's dormitory, where the new batch of trainees was assembled, each at the foot of their new bed. Although the instructors received a lot of information about each kid before the program started, usually day one was the first time Pike ever saw a trainee in person. This batch of 14 seemed like a good bunch overall – there were a few who would struggle but most of the trainees here had lived on campus for several years already and were therefore already very physically fit and prepared for the course. The Fletcher sisters were the wild cards. Pike had never come across a trainee who was well versed in martial arts without having been taught it by CHERUB. He had been instructed to pay careful attention to what they knew and what they didn't, and report back to the main building regularly. He had also been informed that the sisters were marked down for a big mission and therefore should not be set up to fail or made to take stupid risks at any point. They were to be paired with each other as they were used to working and training together and would hopefully help and motivate each other to pass.

"Right" he announced. The 14 trainees fixed their faces on his. "Welcome to the basic training compound. Today is the first day of the toughest three months of your life. Basic training is not for the weak or faint hearted. But pass this course and you will become fully qualified agents, ready to face anything a mission could throw at you. We will begin immediately"

…..

Ellie and Zoe were the second pair to start the assault course. Pike had explained the daily timetable to the trainees, which always began with an assault course run. They quickly became plastered in mud and dirt, but they never slowed down and were soon level with the first pair, unidentical twins Dan and Kylie, who had lived on campus since the age of 5. The twins stared as Ellie and Zoe said hello.

"How are you so fast?" demanded Dan.

"Done lots of physical training before" shrugged Zoe.

"So have we!"

"Yeah I can tell, you're pretty damn fast as well you know" smiled Zoe as she overtook him.

As the course progressed, Ellie and Zoe easily drew well ahead of the others, although most pairs were making good time. Ellie's injured leg began to ache badly, and she swore under her breath, fighting mini flashbacks.

"_Oh dear, it looks to me like your shoulder just might be dislocated. That must be painful, huh? Do you think it would hurt more or less if we broke your leg next? That leg there. I reckon it might hurt more. Well, what do you think? Does that sound like fun?"_

Zoe saw the expression on her best friend's face, and grasped her shoulder.

"Ellie? Are you okay? We can rest a minute if you want. It's okay. Is it your leg again?"

She watched as Ellie's expression changed, and she was looking at Zoe rather than through her. Zoe gave her a hug and they stood together on the course, foreheads touching. Ellie took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly.

"I'm sorry" she whispered.

"Don't be. It's okay. Do you need me to take some of the weights from your pack? I will"

"No, the instructors will see. We need to get going, I can see Dan and Kylie"

Zoe studied her face closely. "Okay" she said, "but don't suffer in silence, yeah?"

"Yeah….Zoe?"

"Yes?"

"Can you distract me with something?"

They began running, and Zoe thought back.

"Remember when we were like 8, and we went to those mountains for that stamina training stuff?"

Ellie laughed a little. "Oh god yeah, like yesterday"

"And remember Callum and Harry's big idea?"

Ellie began laughing properly as they neared the end of the course, "I love it when you tell this story"

Zoe had just finished when they reached the end. Instructor Yosyp Kazakov was waiting for them.

"Why" he demanded, "are you laughing? You are not on a little jolly here. This isn't the 3-months-of-fun-and-games summer camp, this is serious training. Get over there right this second and start doing push ups. NOW!"

…

By dinner, both girls were exhausted. The day had been a relentless march of physical training and lessons. Nearly all the other trainees gave them odd looks, confused about where their stamina, strength and Karate skills had come through if they hadn't spent years at CHERUB already. When they had moments, they gave them the 'my mum was a Karate champion' explanation and then changed the subject. Only Lewis and his training partner Britney were completely comfortable around them. Both of them had also only joined CHERUB very recently but unlike Zoe and Ellie, they lagged behind the others. The four were quickly becoming friends.

"So" said Zoe as she finished the last scrap of beef stew. "Where are you guys from?"

"Ireland" smiled Lewis, "But I guess you could tell that anyway! I'm from Dublin actually. I was in a care home there a month ago when CHERUB found me. This is all pretty surreal, to be honest"

"Tell me about it" said Britney. Britney was short and slim and quite weak, with a Russian accent. Ellie was a little concerned for her, as she couldn't help noticing that Britney sometimes had little tremors and looked drawn. She wondered if she was ill.

"I use to live in Russia, but, uh, my Grandma and father wanted to leave. We were all going to come over here together and father would find work and we'd all be happy…." She trailed off.

"I'm sorry" said Zoe, "I didn't mean to pry"

"No, no, it's okay, you didn't know. I don't mind, it's just still so…recent. We paid people money to bring us over, but the journey was so long and hard, my grandmother got really sick. She died soon after we arrived. My father had to work on this farm to pay back the gang who brought us over. I worked too, but more in secret because I was young and they didn't want anyone to see and call the Police you know? I was always hiding in the buildings, sorting produce and stuff. Anyway…one day this guy came running and told everyone that he'd seen a load of gangsters from a rival gang coming. Everyone panicked and tried to run. I got away. I don't know what happened after that, I've not seen my father since. I mean I don't really care, I know that sounds awful, but my father doesn't love me. I don't want to see him again. I ran for hours till I came to this town and I slept there for two days until someone called social services. I got taken to this children's home. I couldn't tell anyone where exactly this farm was and I stayed there for a couple of weeks will CHERUB found me"

They all stared at her

"Wow" whispered Zoe, "um…that's some life you've had"

Britney gave her a weak smile

"Well, I don't miss it. This is my new life, and I love it….well, I don't love _this_ but you know what I mean!"

"Sure do" smiled Zoe, "But in 99 days it'll be over and we'll all be CHERUB agents, okay?"

"I'd drink to that if I actually had something to drink!"

**Campus, 50 days later**

Ewart called James and Lauren to his office for a chat about the mission. Preparation was coming along well, and James and Lauren were getting excited. Although they always missed their friends when on missions, proper missions were amazing. This was going to be the longest time James had ever gone between finding out about a mission, and starting it, and as the weeks past and several of James's mates left campus on their own briefings, the anticipation and slight frustration at the slowness grew.

When they sat down, Ewart put two files on the table between them.

"I've been getting regular updates from Pike and Kazakov on Zoe and Ellie's progress in training" he explained, "and since they are now half way through, it's time to review them. This is all very confidential, so do NOT mention this to anybody"

"Of course not" replied Lauren, "so how are they doing?"

"Apart from one minor injury which was patched up with no problems, they're doing very well" said Ewart. "They're making good progress with their lessons and when it comes to the physical training, they already excel, especially at martial arts. Pike and Kazakov were very surprised in the first few days". Ewart frowned. "However, at times they can be lippy. Kazakov has punished them several times for answering back, and frankly this concerns me. They need to button their lips. I don't want any incidents"

Lauren was forcibly reminded of her own 'incident'. The image of Norman Large collapsing as she walloped him with the spade was satisfying to think of now, but it had ended her first attempt at training, and they couldn't afford anything like that to happen now. It was very unlikely anything _would _happen but Lauren didn't know how reactive the girls were. As a helper in the Junior Block, she had worked with Alexis Fletcher a bit, and that girl was very quick tempered and stubborn, quick to try and smack anyone who tried to wind her up. Lauren's first impressions of Zoe and Ellie made her think they were more even tempered, and James agreed, but still…

The meeting ended half an hour later and James and Lauren went to lunch. "Where have you been?" demanded Bethany Parker, Lauren's best friend.

"Mission meeting" smiled Lauren, "all going well, we'll be leaving in just over two months. And this one's a biggy! Can't you anything, but lots of opportunity to stand out, you know?" She couldn't help rubbing it in slightly.

…..

Alexis checked the coast was clear, locked the door, and opened her Nintendo DS packet. She inserted a certain cartridge, pulled up her contacts list, and dialled a number.

"Alexis! Good to hear from you. How are you? How are your maps coming along?"

"Good. I'm good. I'm just redrawing my building plans slightly; I'll send them over tomorrow"

"And all the information on current operatives and operations is stored on secure computers or in the mission building?"

"Unfortunately yes. I'll work out a plan with Zoe and Ellie when they get out of training. They're half way through today"

"Mmm…no idea how they're doing?"

"No"

"Very well, carry on as you're doing. I never expected to be able to get hold of whole files anyway. Instead, I want to start with a list of all the current agents, red shirts, and mission staff, okay? Send me lists with photos where possible, and also I want to know which agents are currently on missions and preferably which countries they are in."

"Right"

"Keep in contact. Out"

**Training Compound, Day 67**

It was the daily half hour of recreational time. The trainees sat or lay on their beds, mostly dozing. Zoe, Ellie, Lewis and Britney, who had all become good friends, sat around Ellie's bed talking. Ellie was the unofficial leader of their group, and she protected Lewis and Britney from Dan and Kylie, who had turned out to be bullies who enjoyed picking on the weaker trainees (which meant everyone except the Fletchers).

Ellie had grown more and more concerned about Britney's health as the weeks had progressed, but it finally seemed as if she was turning a corner. Ellie had no idea what was causing this, but Britney suffered frequent stomach aches and headaches as well as those funny tremors, and she admitted to struggling to sleep a lot of the time. Ellie had heard her softly crying in bed at night. In the last couple of weeks however, Britney had said she was feeling a little better, and Ellie noticed she was eating faster and making more progress with physical training, although she was still by far the weakest of the group. Ellie admired Britney's determination and refusal to quit, however bad she felt.

"Hey!" called Kylie. They looked over, Zoe sighing loudly.

"What?" she replied, "no offense but none of us enjoy listening to you"

Kylie scowled. "I wasn't talking to you. I was talking to Britney there. Did I really see you collapse and cry on the assault course this morning? Oh right, I did! How come you're such a baby? Most of us seem to manage without needing mummy every five minutes"

As Britney clenched her fists and fixed her gaze on the floor, the other three all stood and advanced towards the twins.

"I think" said Ellie, "that you want to stop talking now"

"Actually, no I don't" said Kylie, as she and Dan squared up to them. The other trainees were all awake now, staring in disbelief.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me" Kylie smirked. "why don't you try and make me shut up?"

…

Pike was interrupted halfway through his bag of crisps by sudden shouting. He jabbed Kazakov who was napping on the couch, and they both ran to the dormitory, not bothering to check the monitors.

When they arrived, it was to chaos. Kylie was lying on the floor, clearly unconscious, while Dan and Zoe were grappling with each other, both bleeding from the nose.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!"Pike bawled. The fight abruptly ended as the two trainees backed away from each other warily.

"WELL?" he demanded. No one spoke or moved. "If one of you doesn't give me an answer right this second, all of you are going to seriously regret it!"

Half an hour later, Zoe and Ellie started the assault course. They couldn't let everyone take the rap and consequently had been told to run the course twice, then spend the rest of the night outside the dormitory holding weights above their heads.

"Well that went well" groaned Ellie

"I wish you'd let me tell them that I was the one who knocked that stupid bitch out"

"Not fair" said Ellie, "we're in it together ok?"

"Us against the world might not be the best way forward here"

"Beating those guys up probably wasn't either" Ellie admitted. "so much for being relatively inconspicuous"

The girls groaned as they imagined Alecto's reaction when they had to tell her. At least that was a good few weeks away. It was far too risky to try and communicate with home while in the training compound, so that task fell solely to Alexis until they were qualified agents. Communicating was risky full stop, in a place full of spies, and yet had been surprisingly easy so far. For some reason, CHERUB seemed to feel that they had the monopoly on child agents. What kid would steal their information? What child would spy on _them_?


End file.
